Two of his German compatriots have, though, with only David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne currently above Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Pascal Gro​ss. The 25-year-old summer signing has been involved in 70 per cent of Albion's goals this season, with Chris Hughton's side sitting in 12th position after the opening 10 fixtures.

Gross' importance to Hughton's side comes from the traditional No.10 role behind either Tomer Hemed or more recently Glenn Murray, stitching the midfield unit with the lone front man.

Hughton's counter-attacking system calls for players to work tirelessly for each other before exploiting wide areas of the pitch, and Gross has demonstrated both his ability to squeeze opponents into submission and an outstanding range of distribution.

The 25-year-old has covered more ground than all but two Premier League players this season - Burnley's Jack Cork and Watford's Abdoulaye Doucoure - and created more chances than the likes of Manchester City winger Leroy Sane, Newcastle's Matt Richie, and Riyad Mahrez of Leicester.

Not only does Gross possess remarkable vision, but his set-pieces have also caused issues for opponents throughout the campaign. As the Bundesliga's most creative player for the past two seasons, there were questions whether Gross would be able to replicate his performances in the English top flight prior to this season, but he has proved an inspired piece of business by the Albion recruitment team.

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Manchester United's Henrikh Mkitaryan has registered the same number of chances created as Gross, and indeed the same number of assists, with Sane, the other German in the rankings, completing the top five.

PREMIER LEAGUE CREATIVE STATS

PL 2017-18

Team

Assists

Minutes Played

Chances Created (inc. assists)

Passing Accuracy

Goals

% Team Goals Involved in

David Silva

Manchester City

6

873

28

90.78

1

20.00%

Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City

6

841

30

86.04

1

20.00%

Pascal Groß

Brighton & Hove Albion

5

838

23

75.9

2

70.00%

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Manchester United

5

733

23

82.41

1

26.09%

Leroy Sané

Manchester City

5

588

15

83.15

6

31.43%

César Azpilicueta

Chelsea

4

900

7

83.74

1

27.78%

Matt Ritchie

Newcastle United

4

887

14

73.56

0

40.00%

Riyad Mahrez

Leicester City

4

778

12

78.91

1

35.71%

Kyle Walker

Manchester City

4

764

7

87.19

0

11.43%

Kieran Trippier

Tottenham Hotspur

4

633

14

81.82

0

21.05%

DISTANCE COVERED IN PL 17-18

Premier League 2017-18

KM Covered

Jack Cork

121.13

Abdoulaye Doucouré

118.59

Pascal Groß

117.63

Dele Alli

116.56

Nemanja Matic

116.20

Dale Stephens

115.86

Granit Xhaka

115.31

Davy Pröpper

114.52

Wilfred Ndidi

114.06

Jay Rodriguez

113.93

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli and United's Nemanja Matic complete the top five in terms of ground covered across the first 10 games of the campaign, with another two Brighton players making the top 10 - Dale Stephens and Davy Propper, Albion's central two midfielders in their 4-4-1-1 system.